The invention is generally directed to a shoe and method of manufacturing a shoe which significantly reduces the labor involved in manufacturing.
Generally, shoes are very labor intensive products to manufacture, requiring relatively skilled labor and significant manual activity to assemble the last of the shoe, as well as the body and sole. As a result, manufacture of shoes has shifted almost completely to low cost production areas apart from extremely high end shoes where consumers can pay for the highly skilled artisans who make high quality shoes.
As consumers have evolved in their desires for both fashion conscious shoes and shoes that fit their particular feet more precisely and comfortably, there has been a need for high quality shoes which can be partially or completely custom fit to the customer's specifications in a timely fashion. Generally, with shoe production remote from the United States or other first world markets, any orders for shoes take a significant period of time to be manufactured and then shipped to the seller and finally customer in completed form.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved shoe construction with reduced labor required to allow local manufacturing and enhanced customization of the shoes without significantly affecting the cost, labor involved and time to manufacture and deliver to a customer.